Films about the Vietnam War: “The Deer Hunter” and “Platoon”

Excerpts from the Paper

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Films about the Vietnam War: "The Deer Hunter" and "Platoon"
The Deer Hunter, filmed in 1978 and directed by Michael Camino follows the lives of three working class men who work together and go on to Vietnam War together. The film examines the aftermath of the war and its influence on an individual soldier. The film starts as one of the three men is about to marry before the friends ship out to Vietnam. Two scenes from the wedding foreshadow what is coming next. First, the men meet a Vietnam vet who refuses to indulge their enthusiasm for their upcoming deployment, nearly causing a fight. Steven, the groom and one of three friends drinks a toast with his bride, symbolically drinking from the same goblet. As they drink, the red wine spills...

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..... a victim of a greedy Frenchman who is making money from his deadly gamble. Mike is shows as taking revenge for the death of an innocent victim while on combat. Platoon is also more critical of the US involvement in the Vietnam War. In The Deer Hunter, it is very clear ho the ‘bad guys’ are, while Platoon focuses on the ‘good guys’ only showing that the US involvement was far from innocent. Nevertheless, the universal theme of war as tragic and pointless is present all both films.
References
The Deer Hunter. Dir. Michael
Cimino
.
Perf
. Robert De
Niro
, John
Cazale
, John Savage, Christopher
Walken
and
Maryl
Streep
, Universal Pictures, 1978
Platoon. Dir. Oliver Stone.
Perf
. Charlie Sheen, Willem Defoe and Tom
Berenger
.
Hamdale
Film, 1986